Thursday, November 13, 2014

This entry will include a couple things but I'm going to start with the news that I am most excited about- a new item from one of my favorite stores, Glitter Unique.

For those of you that follow the Glitter Unique Facebook page, this is not news but since I didn't until yesterday, when I want to know what's new, I go directly to the Glitter Unique website and what did I find recently added to the already amazing inventory? Fantasy Series Effect Flakes and I can't wait to get my hands on some!

There are four flakes listed now- Rainbow, Blue, Pink and Green, all priced the same. A 1 teaspoon sample is $3.00, the 1/2 oz. is $9.50 and the 1 oz. is $17.

The description included on all for has this to say: Fantasy Effect Flakes distinguish themselves by their extraordinary sparkling effects and glamorous look. Their performance is outstanding in respect to high transparency, maximum sparkle, color purity, exceptional clarity and outstanding luster.Unlike our other glass flakes which have a frosty/shimmer look to them due to the wide range of particle sizes ranging from a powder to a visible 'flake', the Fantasy Effect Flakes have a particle range form 450-670 microns, creating clean, clear iridescent flakes.
I've never used these flakes but I've got a few of the other effect flakes including the Rainbow Pearl Flakes which are beautiful in color but diminished by their size and I can imagine the larger size of the Fantasy Series lets that color shine through.

Solar Color Dust, the store I purchased my last set of chameleon pigments from, is having a sale, as much as 50% off on selected items. A lot of already affordable glitters are marked down. For the record, not all of the chameleons are included.

Best price is from Coast Airbrush who sells the Kolor Shift Flakes in 1 oz and 3 oz packages.
The one ounce is $39.95 which breaks down to $1.43/gram. The 3 ounce package sells for $171.85 which is $2.05/gram (They show prices in Canadian, Euro and Australian dollars in addition to US currency.)

Second choice based on price is from Smart Shoppers Inc, also sold in 3 ounce containers. $156.50 for 3 ounces which equals $1.86/gram.

House of Kolor's Kameleon Pearls come in 5 colors: Green to Blue,Gold to Green,Copper Red to Green,SapphireandAquarius.Particle size is 40 microns or 90 microns depending on what you choose, while package size is usually a 2 ounce jar. For the 2 ounce, your options are:Smart Shoppers Inc, $258.50 = $4.61/gram.Coast Airbrush, $304.95 = $/gram. 2 ounces not available and current inventory is only Green to Blue,Gold to Green, Aquarius.

The Alsa Corporation is another manufacturer of paints, flakes and pigments and offer some products from their site that can't be found anywhere else. Although this means there is no price comparison on a few items, the prices really aren't terrible.

One of the things Alsa sells is Flop Crystals, available in 4 colors: Jupiter, Mars, Neptune and Saturn. They range in particle size from 1 micron to 300 microns. 2 oz jars are $155.00, $2.77/gram.

Another of their products, SpectraFX, is sold in 6 colors, Copper/Patina, Blue/Emerald, San Juan, Havana, Rio and Cabos, each available in small and large particle size.

16 gram jars (slightly over 1/2 ounce) are $115, $7.18/gram.

32 grams jars (slightly over 1 ounce) are $180, $5.63/gram.

Kustom Rides

Kustom Rides sells SpectraFX as well but in varying quantities. Copper/Patina, Blue/Emerald, San Juan, Havana, Rio and Cabos. No particle size is mentioned.

16 grams, $110.00 = $6.88/gram

32 grams, $170.00 = $5.31/gram

TCP Global

TCP Global has their own line of color shifting powders. The set is simply called "Color Shifting Pearls" and features 5 colors: Red to Gold, Purple to Green,Blue to Red,Green to OrangeandGold to Blue. They are sold in 1/2 oz., 1 oz., and 2 oz. packages and also in sets of the same sizes. No particle size listed. These have gone up about $10 or more since my last update.

Also from Innate, Xotic Colours Mirage Flakes. 1 ounce, $88.95 = $3.18/gramGold to SilverRed to GoldBlue to RedGreen to Purple

Pearl Magic Custom Paints

The next store I have for you is Pearl Magic Custom Paints, the only one on this list that is located in Australia. They sell 2 chameleon colors, Green-Gold andYellow-Green, particle size unknown.

25 gram package is $16.50, $.66/gram.

100 gram package is $39.95, $.40/gram.

Solar Color Dust

Newly discovered as a source of "chameleon pigments" is Solar Color Dust. They have a range of color shifting pigments, all priced the same at 10 grams for $15.00 = $1.50/gram

6 pigments shift to 4 different colors and are listed as "The Four Color Series"

Gold/Kelly/Green/Blue

Indigo/Purple/Red/Orange

Red/Orange/Yellow/Kelly

Mauve/Red/Orange/Yellow

Cyan/Blue/Purple/Red

Blue/Purple/Red/Orange

The "Two Color Series" have 14 pigments and all of these are in stock.

Orange Yellow/Violet Blue

Blue Green/Orange Yellow

Gold/Blue Violet

Blue/Yellow

Olive/Violet

Red/Blue Green

Blue Violet/Olive

Olive/Red

Orange/Blue

Red/Blue Violet

Blue/Green

Violet/Blue Green

Red/Green

Olive/Red (Pearl)

The newest series is the "Ghost Chameleons" of which there are 4.

Blue/Green/Gold

Red/Purple/Blue

Purplish-Red/Blue/Green

Green/Gold/White/Red

You can view my swatches of the Four and Two series chameleons here and here.

Didspade Metal Flake Co

Another source is Didspade Metal Flake Co. This brand of pigments can be found on eBay in North America but none of the sellers have a lot of feedback and each has negative so their rating is low. You can buy from Didspade themselves and at the same price so those are the links I'm using here. They sell 5 gram sample sizes for $5.80.

Custom Painting Pearls has a pretty good array of chameleon/kameleon pigments. Prices range from $9.99-$13.99 = $0.40/gram-$0.56/gram for the more simple color shifters up to $25.99-$28.99 = $1.04/gram-$1.16/gram for the more complex ones. All are sold in 25 gram bags.

Anaconda Chameleon Pearl

Blue-Purple-Red Chameleon

Carribean Blue/Green Pearl

Copperhead Fire Chameleon Pearl

Diamondback Chameleon Pearl

Green-Gold Pearl

Green-Gold-Blue Chameleon

Midnight Red-Midnight Blue Pearl

Orangeish/Bronze-Green Pearl

Pink-Gold Pearl

Purple Viper Haze Chameleon Pearl

Python Chameleon Pearl

Rattlesnake Chameleon Pearl

Red-Green Chameleon Pearl

Violet-Green Pearl

Yellow-Green Pearl

The seller (by username) on Ebay, oldsparkle55, sells a few chameleon pigments, not named anything I can match up with another company. (this is the ebay store of Custom Painting Pearls). Price and quantity varies but its worth checking out.

This section includes all cosmetic pigments/shadows and where you can buy them but people's ideas of "duochrome" vary so much that unless I own them or someone else does and reviews them, I can't say for certain that they do indeed have color shifting properties. Like all shopping online, you make the decision to buy based on a picture and a description but the accuracy of these greatly varies as well. I think if a company wants to sell me on it, they better show me the color shift in transition. That being said, here's what I've gathered so far.

TKB Trading

As far as I'm concerned TKB Trading was already tops in the duochrome category because of the Travel to pigments, or the Planetary Sampler as the set is called but with the addition of the Star Bites and Moon Dusts, I don't know who else can compete with the selection.

In the Star Bite Collection are three colors, Shanika Sun, Marinda Star and Cherika Moon- larger particle size, about 100-260 microns. They can be purchased as samples and 1 oz sizes, individually or in sets. Their description reads:

Shanika Sun shifts from gold to green to blue

Marinda Star shifts from red to orange to yellow

Cherika Moon shifts blue to purple to red orange.

2.5 gram samples of all 3 are $6.00, $2.95 individually = $1.18/gram.
1 oz bags are $15.00 each ($.54/gram) or $35.00 as a set- $.41/gram.

If you want a better idea of the duochrome, Kitties26 of More Nail Polish showed us the Star Bites fantastic color shifting with her Duochrome Top Coats #2, #3 and #4.

The Moon Dust Collection has five colors: Aisha Gold, Crescent Crimson, Indu Rose, Lavender Luz, and Luna Blue. The particle size is finer and thus less sparkly than the Star Bites. They can be purchased as samples and 1 oz sizes, individually or in sets.
Their description reads:

Aisha Gold shifts from gold to green to blue

Crescent Crimson shifts from red to orange to yellow

Indu Rose shifts indigo to purple to red

Lavender Luz shifts from blue to purple to orange

Luna Blue shifts from cyan to blue to red

Samples, 2.5g, are $2.95 individually, a set of five for $12.00.
1 oz bags are $15.00 each ($.53/gram) or $59.00 as a set- $.42/gram.

Finally and more familiar to most of us is the Planetary Sampler which contains the seven Travel to pigments Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Pluto. Like the sets above, they can be purchased as samples and 1 oz sizes, individually or in sets. Their description reads:

These pigments are less expensive than the others. Purchased in a set, 1 ounce is $12.00 versus $14.00 ($.50/gram) if purchased separately. The set is $85.00, bringing the price down to $.43 per gram. Samples are $1.50 each or $9.00 as a set.

If you haven't already seen these as swatches, you can view mine here dry and in polish here.

The Conservatorie

The Travel to(s) were a nice segue away from TKB Trading because The Conservatorie also sells these pigments (with original manufacturer names). They are not sold in sets but are priced $33.95 for 100 grams, $0.34/gram or $1.45 for a sample.

Pure Luxe Cosmetics also sells the Travel to pigments but under different names, in smaller quantities and under the name of the Kaleidoscope Collection (but not sold as a set). I am making the correlation here between the Travel to's and these based on Pure Luxe pictures/descriptions and the Travel to(s) I own. 1/8 teaspoon = 1 scoop. 1 scoop is $2.00, 2 scoops $3.00, 3 scoops $4.00, 5 gram volume jar $8.00, 10 gram vol. jar $14.00

Visions (Mercury)

Faceted (Mars)

Luster (Earth)

Prismatic (Venus)

Mirage (Neptune)

Illusion (Pluto)

Oasis (Jupiter)

Fyrinnae

Does Fyrinnae qualify for a indie company? At any rate, though I have never purchased anything from the company, it is my understanding that Fyrinnae has a rather expansive line of color shifting eyeshadows under the collection name of Arcane Magic. The website shows 18 colors currently, with pictures and descriptions. $6.80 each for a full size jar containing 3 grams.

Riley's Rods actually sells pigment for, you guessed it, fishing lures but they also happen to sell "Color Change Paints" in six colors, Green to Gold, Green to Light Green, Green to Purple, Blue to Green, Brown to Green and Blue to Purple. Sold in 1/4 jars, 5 grams of powder for $9.00 = $1.80/gram.

The Nail Shop is an Australian supplier of "Wholesale nail products for nail technicians, educators, salons and students.". I don't have an account, I've never ordered from here but I'm going to include it for you aussie readers.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Anna's Art Asylum was one of my favorite stores on eBay to get fantastic (and different) duochrome pigments. These pigments were featured on my blog and many others as well and they were still on my wish list to acquire more but unfortunately for me and everyone else, Anna has closed her store permanently. She had sold out of many of them so this was for the best but I am sorry to see the store closed.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The highlight of my day yesterday, my week really, was a trip to my local Walgreens to pick up prescriptions and look at nail polish- as most of you know, Walgreens is good for Sinful Colors, the typical drugstore brands and the occasional limited edition/exclusive. I picked up a few Sinfuls from recent displays (Karen at Frazzle and Aniploish is always good for showing us these), two Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes because Walgreens had a Buy One Get One Free deal on them and that was all I found until my husband and I walked past this giant bin of Klean Color polishes. Unfortunately these were just thrown in a bin about a foot deep by three feet wide but that didn't deter me from digging around although I would have liked to transfer handfuls to another basket so I could dig more efficiently. Hubby gratefully went to wait in the car, having indulged my polish browsing for long enough.

I left the store with 22 new colors and some extras for frankening if the mood ever strikes me. I've never seen any Klean Color polishes in a retail store but I freely admit I don't get out much. Since I moved in May but my father didn't, I now get to hit two different Walgreens but I don't know if the other one, or indeed any other Walgreens, has this same bin but it could be worth checking out.

A side note, inventory at one my local Dollar Trees rolled over again and I found some Milani and Maybelline polishes there, again for $1.00, along with the usual assortment of generic brands and L.A. Colors.

Friday, July 11, 2014

My sister and I are going out tonight to see a fabulous concert- Sarah McLachlan which will be the second time we've seen her together so I'm looking forward to both a good show and a good night. I've been trying to get in the habit of painting my nails, taking my time with thinner, even coats and this seemed like another good occasion to do so with Orly Ingenue, previously unused. I touched up my hair color again too but I probably won't include a lot of pics of that.

For my nails, the photos were taken under a variety of lighting and from differing angles.

I bought this polish on impulse because of its golden glow and it certainly did not disappoint. I was also happy with the trouble-free application and shorter drying time.

For hair color, you get one picture because I hate my photographs. I am pleased to say that switching to a sulfate free shampoo and adding some weightless Argan Oil spray has allowed my hair to be less fuzzy and I'm sure cutting a couple inches helped as well. This was a refresher of Jerome Russell Punky Colour Poppy Red with a touch of Vermilion.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Saturday was another sister day so once again I decided to paint my nails, far from the professional job my sister has done of course but it makes me happy just the same. Saturday's pick was Pure Ice Lucky Charming, a newer sparkly green that has been gathering dust in my collection for a few months even though it really grabbed me in store. Although I provided my own bottle shot, Lucky Charming next to my own franken #469 Chrysocolla, the pic doesn't do the color justice. I would call it a yellow-leaning green with a very beautiful gold shimmer. The finish is super sparkly and nearly metallic, that's my opinion but judge for yourself.

I used Chrysocolla as a topper, 2 coats and it turned out to be the perfect compliment, allowing Lucky Charming to shine through but also adding extra sparkle and a bit of a duochrome effect.

This one scores high on my list (my very short list) of polishes I have the patience for because it dried pretty fast and I was able to get away with only two coats. I could have used a third of course but two provided sufficient coverage. I was also rather proud of my paint job- the gap between the polish and the cuticle is uneven but I didn't flood my cuticle and the sides of my nails because I was practicing applying thinner coats... That sentence got wordy fast. Whatever, the point is I did a better job than I usually do and I was happy enough I took a boatload of photos.

Indoors photos first.

macro

And some outside shots, this time in the shade.

And in the sun.

I did something else fun this weekend too- I dyed my hair with a red semi permanent dye, Poppy Red (Jerome Russell, Punky Color) over my permanent current red, Vidal Sassoon Runway Red, London Luxe line. The Runway Red was hubby's pick, unnaturally vivid red but evidently that was a good thing because Poppy Red ended up this bright without my having to bleach my hair. It smelled a heck of a lot better than any permanent hair dye I've used too. The best part is it will eventually wash out so no harm in playing around with some color.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

By now its obvious that, despite my frankening hobby, I don't pay much attention to my nails- I like the look of nicely polished nails but not the time involved in doing it (I do paint them slightly more often than it looks like here but usually my photos leave a lot to be desired so I forego posting). Today though I decided to make an exception on both counts because in a matter of hours my sister and I will be going out for some much needed girl time and I like to dress up a bit when we do. She also has her nails done (professionally) on these occasions so my bare nails just didn't seem like much fun!

I chose China Glaze Prism from the Prismatic Chroma Glitters collection figuring that sheer polish would be more forgiving to my messier paint jobs- read that as less obvious, and I was right. I was also happy to discover that it dried fast which means I have far less time to screw it up, at least until I smack a nail on something and take a chunk off. The only issue I had was some difficulty covering the sides of my nails, a problem I always have but my bottle being a little thick didn't help; I could've remedied that with thinner but like my polish remover, its downstairs and inaccessible momentarily.

On to the pictures, try not to shudder. I could have digitally cleaned the photos up since I haven't been able to do it in real life just yet but that would be false representation of my skill. I will say that I didn't do this polish justice so if you haven't ever seen it in real life or worn it, please do a Google search for swatches. Lucky for me, it does look better in real life. Note to self: keep the tripod handy, one-handed shots don't work.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Since I know I didn't reply to every one of you for your comments and well wishes about the house, I want to extend a sincere THANK YOU. It was nice to be able to share the news and read your thoughts on the process and it did quite a bit to make me feel better. -MK

At the moment I am undecided if I'll even post this entry so I'm just going to write it the way I really want to. There are so many little details I want to share with someone, even if they seem silly or mundane.

We've been here just over a month and I've been extremely busy with all things house related so there hadn't been much idle time for my polish hobby. I did buy a few drugstore polishes and thought about mixing them up with some of the Solar Color Dust pigments I'd purchased in February(?) but the supplies were already packed so that idea was rejected. Instead I spent the entire month of April packing the apartment while waiting impatiently for the closing on April 30th. The month of May had been spent just enjoying the house and settling in.

We moved the same weekend we closed and like most people do, I found that I was moving out of the apartment with far more stuff than I moved in with and wondered how we had it all in the place. The high point was that my two sons, going on 15 and 17, were a great help and worked together to unload the truck themselves the second day, truly impressing to us. The low point would have been transporting my 4 cats to the new house the night before and having to leave them here alone; I think I suffered as much separation anxiety as they did. I swear I am not the crazy cat lady, not yet anyway, all 4 were strays and I think 4 is my limit- that's more than enough kitty litter that ends up on the floor.

I am excited enough about finally having a house that I had the majority of the boxes unpacked and put away within a day and few key decor items distributed around the house. Momentarily it's rather plain but also pleasant because having lived in a crowded, cluttered apartment for 8 years, I find myself extremely reluctant to display all my decorative items. Most have been relegated to my basement "studio" but more about that later. I've got a thousand decorating ideas flying through my head and thought I'd share a few here, things I've done with supplies I owned already and a few more purchased from the Dollar Tree. Bear in mind I am not a professional decorator or Martha Stewart but I know what I like and what works for me. Yes, this entry probably should be posted somewhere else but I have only the one blog.

I love my kitchen with it's oak colored cabinets, carved wood trim, granite counter tops and stone-look (I say "stone look" because I have no idea what it is) back splashes accented with diamonds of the same granite but the knobs were plain old black and I wanted to add something to it all. Years ago, I caught a segment of a decorating show and I remember the host saying that you can change the look of your kitchen just by changing the hardware on your cabinets and I thought that was a fine idea. Rather than going out and buying different hardware, I utilized things I already owned, in this case nail polish, glitter and pigments.

The granite in the counters is black with silvery white flecks with hints of red so that's what I decided to play off of. I made a very simple mixture of a now-discontinued .008" Sterling Silver glitter I bought from Coastal Scents several years ago, TKB Trading's Siren Red pigment and clear polish, testing it a few times on one of the knobs until I figured out less glitter and more pigment looked better. It took me about an hour to paint them all and the end result I thought was nicely understated and went well with the counters.

My basement is finished (meaning completely painted, tiled floor and entirely functional) and I have turned that space into my "studio"/decor-display area. While it's nice having a place to stash all of my craft supplies (I had no idea I had that much stuff until I saw it lined up against the wall), I still don't have a table or desk to work at so I starting thinking about what I could improvise with and minimize further spending. What I came up with, utilizing the polish drawers I own that already take up space, was to make a work table out of a hollow-core interior door, $20 at Home Depot. I don't actually have the door yet so I can't show you pictures but with the addition of a chair (I don't have one of those either), I can see it being a fairly spacious area to work in if I arranged things right.

In my former apartment, jewelry was stored in different places around the house because the drawers of my free standing jewelry box were filled with other junk while my earring collection was deferred to the half bath where it occupied two walls (earrings falling off into the litter box was a definite hazard). Here in my house, I was able to create a central location for all my jewelry in the corner of my bedroom.

Since the jewelry box itself was offset in the corner, I had to anchor the mirror ($1.00 from Dollar Tree) that way as well. I tried velcro first but it didn't make enough contact with the walls to hold so I used a hot glue gun to glue pieces of ribbon to the sides and pinned it there with tacks, holes but minimal and small. The cherry blossom wall stickers I also got from the Dollar Tree, colored with paint markers (they were silver) and added as the first accent around the mirror. The other flowers on the ends of the branches I cut from a wallpaper sample, if I decide to include them when I take pictures. Up close it somehow irritates me but from a little farther away its a nice effect.

To keep the earrings organized and all together, I had to make new hangers and find a way to put them on the wall without making holes. The original version was made with rubbery shelf liner (Dollar Tree, $1.00) sandwiched between a cardboard frame with Elmers Glue and was then nailed to the wall all the way around for support, not pretty but functional. For the second version, I used foam board from Dollar Tree, cutting out the center so the frame is one solid piece and sandwiched the gripper stuff between the two with a combination of Elmers Glue and hot glue at key points. To hang them without making any holes, I used velcro strips (purchased from Walmart, maybe the only thing in the store made in the U.S.A.) all around the frames and stuck them on the wall that way.

I may never own a crystal chandelier but I enjoyed looking at them when we were at Home Depot recently and while Hubby shot me down on buying one (I'm still enjoying giving him a hard time about it) and I left without the chandelier, I also left with a few ideas to make one, or at least the effect of one. Fortunately for me, my bedroom came with a brass and glass light fixture in the ceiling that is also partially magnetic so I used magnets, metal Christmas ornament hooks and several cheap "Grad" necklaces from, you guessed it, the Dollar Tree, to create one.

Along with the grad necklaces, I've also picked up quite a few green and blues, also Dollar Tree merchandise. I've found uses for them as well- the blue and green grace my kitchen light fixture.

The kitchen "chandelier" is the second version, this time with a combination of velcro around the base of the fixture and aluminum jumprings instead of magnets. It's not sparkly like a traditional chandelier but its interesting and also pulled some more blues and greens into the room.

Those same blue beads helped decorate my formerly silver and white lamp in the living room, along with some rhinestones and blue and clear beads that came off Christmas ornaments I bought from Dollar Tree a couple years ago.

My final contribution for the day and to this entry was the hoop I made to suspend some ornaments from, based on the same idea as a chime (I own many as examples, all lined up by the sliding doors). This way I could hang multiple things from the ceiling from one hook and avoid having to make individual holes. I made this with craft wire from the Dollar Tree as the base wrapped with electrical tape, wrapped again with cloth ribbon and sealed with Mod Podge for rigidness and two more strands of craft wire wound around in opposite directions for more support. Fishing line was used to suspend it from the hook and to hang the ornaments from it. I should have also said that the hoop is rather large so it was easier for me to make something than look for something to buy that was pre-made.

That was fun for me, I hope you got some entertainment value out of it too. Thanks for reading!

Also, since I know I didn't reply to every one of you for your comments and well wishes about the house, I want to extend a sincere THANK YOU. It was nice to be able to share the news and read your thoughts on the process and it did quite a bit to make me feel better. -MK

Monday, April 14, 2014

I have a little countdown on my Facebook page but entertaining and time consuming graphics need a home. The inspection was good, repairs have been made, the appraisal has taken place. 16 days and counting... -MK

Saturday, April 5, 2014

While I wait for my mailman (I like my mailman and he'll be the only thing I miss about living here) to deliver the shoes mentioned in the title of this entry, I thought I'd give a brief-er update on my house.

This is what our agent called "quiet time", time where paperwork is being filed and is processing and there's nothing left for us to do at the moment but wait. Waiting is a killer, I'm eager to get moving.

My house had it's inspection and passed well enough that our agent said it was the cleanest report she'd seen in a while. The was nothing found that was a deal-breaker and the seller agreed to fix a few of the other minor things such as a broken window. The USDA appraisal will be scheduled, no problem according to the inspector because they mainly want to verify there's a house at the address and that its not falling down, they'll be in and out in 15 minutes. Our closing is set for April 30th so the next two months will be spent packing, moving, cleaning this place, transferring the kids, cats and utilities, changing our address and notifying whomever has to be notified. We're breaking our lease by one month and the penalty is paying for the rest of the lease, the manager stuck to that and would not waive it even though we've been here 8 years. Hubby was surprised by that but I was not.

Now I did mention that I was waiting on a pair of shoes... Charming Charlie, a local shop, sells clothing, shoes and purses but their real eye-catcher is all the jewelry, arranged in sections by color so my sister and I stop by there when we're out together. They also have an online store which is where I found these, on sale, marked down to $19.99 from $35.00. That nice big chunky heel means I can actually walk in them and not risk breaking an ankle.

That pair has kicked off a new shoe obsession so in my idle time, I've been online window shopping for shoes on ebay. I've seen a lot of pairs I'd like to buy including those below. Flashy yes but colorful.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I'm pleased to report "my" house has gone from "active" to "pending" and the Open House has been cancelled. The next step is to have
the home inspection done which I've scheduled for Wednesday. Our real estate agent won't be there, says inspectors don't like the
agent being there and in any case she does not need to be because he
will contact the listing agency to get into the house. I chose the
same company, Five Star Home Inspections, (they serve parts of Ohio and Kentucky) that we used in 2008 so I'm
confident that the report will be thorough and we should be meeting
up the next day to go over it.

I've
been feeding my father little bits of info about the house and the process,
hoping that that will ease him into the idea but why I care or am even
bothering I don't know because he had been trying to discourage me
and hasn't been the least bit happy for us like everyone else seems
to be. My immediate family, hubby's family and coworkers are happy for us, strangers from my blog are happy
for us but not my father.

My father has come up with a whole host
of different reasons we should not do this, some of which I'd already
considered myself and others like “you should
buy a house that appreciates in value” and “another place I can't
get into” and “don't trust your husbands boss (who is a fantastic carpenter by the way) to come over and help you fix things” and on and on and on. Don't trust the agent. Don't trust
the house or the bank. Don't trust a USDA government loan. Don't expect the co. hubby works for and manages to be in business long enough to pay off the house even though they've been in the business of audio/video computers for over 25 years. Don't trust hubby's ability to work that long. Don't trust the seller either
because both the seller and the agent will go out of their way to
cover things up about the house. I should get a dog because robberies
happen in houses, not apartments. When I reminded him I own a .38
revolver, he just replied that I had no bullets for it and hubby wouldn't want to spend the money on them- I should've reminded him
that while he gave me the gun, he refused to even give me the bullets
that were already in it. I suppose I'm just supposed to clobber them with it? I've also heard how the town we're moving to is “far
away”, 45 minutes while in reality, its 30 minutes away, the same
drive hubby makes every day twice a day, 5 days a week to go to work.

I showed him every
picture of the house, the nice brick outside, the nice finished
basement with ceramic tile- Dad doesn't even have a completely
finished basement anymore- and he wouldn't even say the house looked
nice.

I've tried to emphasize
all the positive points of moving including how the boys will have their own rooms and we'll have so much more space... Even how now
Dad could come to my house and visit me instead of having to be
visited at his own house... and all he could say to that was how he
wasn't spending the whole f***ing day in a manual wheelchair.
Seriously??? I know the manual chair is less than comfortable but I
didn't say spend the whole day in it and I would think he'd want to
see the place his daughter and grandchildren will be living in.

And yet, when I tell him
it will be better to live in a house and maybe own the thing one day
than to be paying rent and throwing money in a hole, he says he told
me we should've been looking to buy a house a long time ago. I guess
he forgot that 8 years ago when we almost bought a house, he threw a
fit, 3 years ago when I talked about it again it was a disaster and
last October, that he made me an offer for a down payment and
immediately took the offer back, all because I'd been “bitching,
pissing and moaning”.

I live 5 minutes away now and he is making me glad it's about to grow to 30 minutes. In closing, if you're doing both what you need to do and have to do and you're going about it right, don't let other people poo-poo on your decision to buy a house. -MK